Ms Hewitt, on a visit to the Royal Liverpool hospital yesterday, said general levels of deficit in the health service totalled less than 1% of NHS funding.

And she said headlines about debts should not detract from good work being done in the NHS.

Today unions said while there were visible improvements, the government's "obsession with perpetual reorganisation" was damaging the service.

Nursing posts face being cut at Fazakerley, while job losses are on the cards at Southport and Ormskirk which has a savings target of #4m. The Royal is #10m in the red.

Ms Hewitt said: "I know it's difficult, particularly for the staff concerned, but it's also very frustrating for both staff and patients when all the focus is on problems. We need to recognise across Merseyside real improvements are taking place

"And although there are problems, across the NHS deficits are less than 1% of the total funding. #20m at the end of a year is like someone having a #200 overdraft."

The health secretary praised new stroke services at the Royal which see patients helped through recovery in hospital and at home, and the Kent Lodge intermediate care unit run by the Central Liverpool Primary Care Trust (PCT) at Broadgreen where patients suffer from injuries caused by falls and by illnesses including heart dis-ease and diabetes.

Bob Blundell, regional officer for Unison, said: "There is more money and you can see the difference.

"There are problems, but a lot of that is to do with the government which has got the NHS in a state of almost perpetual change. It needs to back off and leave it alone to settle down."

And Glyn Thornton, of the GMB union, said: "We need to get the change behind us and continue to improve the service for patients."